


Green Fingers

by Theatrhythm



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Cooking, F/M, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 23:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12592464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theatrhythm/pseuds/Theatrhythm
Summary: Leo gets excited about tomatoes. So does Sakura, oddly enough.





	Green Fingers

  
"Take 'er for a spin, why don'cha?" purrs Charlotte, smirking against her palm while leaning heavily on the desk. "No one's won the gold today. I'm getting awfully bored passing out bushels of wheat and rusty ol' swords."

"I see you've abandoned your prim and proper persona," comments Leo mildly, eyeing the prizes stacked on the shelves behind her. "It's a rather refreshing change of pace."

"No point pretending anymore when I already snagged me the perfect man."

"That definition is wholly up to interpretation, but considering it's about my brother, I'll spare you the debate. Spin away."

She flicks the lever just barely, sending the box spinning - really, Leo can't understand how anyone could fall for that frail act when the woman could snap anyone's neck without breaking a nail - and as the clacking slows, a small, unassuming bronze ball rolls out.

She clucks her tongue. "Too bad."

"The probability was never in my favor," he shrugs.

"Maybe not, but I've got just the thing for you." Charlotte struts towards the shelves behind the counter, balancing on a stepladder to reach a box stacked in the produce section. She procures something shiny and red, and with a glance behind her, tosses it over her shoulder with a wink. 

He deftly catches it, and turns it over in his hand for inspection. Not a single mark or bruise, and only just ripe, just how he likes it. Perfection.

"We just got that in this morning," she says, climbing back down. "The little princess stopped in with a whole crate. Amazing what you can harvest in the deeprealms, huh?"

"It does cut the growth period significantly and conveniently," he agrees, taking a bite. The juice runs down his palm, and he'll have to clean his gauntlet after, but it's so perfectly sweet he hardly cares. "Can I persuade you to sell me a few?"

"This isn't a greengrocer," laughs Charlotte. "Whatever is left over today is going right to the mess hall where the rest of the stock went."

Well, then, he knows where he's stopping next.

When he opens the door to the mess hall, despite the bell chiming loudly, few people take notice of him; the lively cacophony of retainers and royals chatting and mingling in a thronging crowd is one he hadn't dreamed to witness a few scant weeks back when they were all but openly at war, but it's a welcoming sound nonetheless.

He makes his approach to the front, where a very familiar tuft of pink peeks out from beneath the counter; she's hunched over and rifling through drawers with purpose.

"Excuse me-"

"Oh!" A clatter that sounds like a pan dropping. Quickly she straightens back to standing, clearly flustered. "S-sorry, I was just looking for that gosh darned colander, I can't find it anywhere-"

Leo waves nonchalantly. "It's okay. I take it you're on duty today, Princess Sakura?"

Her eyes widen, apparently only just registering who she's speaking to, because she goes bright red to the roots. "P-Prince Leo! I-I'm so sorry, I must look _so_ unprofessional... I didn't even ask to take your order."

"Chef isn't technically your profession, so no need to fret," he reassures, mouth quirking.

She smooths out her apron and nods her head to the stock of ingredients lined up behind her. "Wh-what can I get for you?"

"Actually," he says, "I heard you might have gotten some new produce." He gestures imploringly to the half-eaten tomato still gripped in his hand.

Her face lights up. "My tomatoes!"

He raises an eyebrow. " _Your_ tomatoes?"

"O-oh. I mean, I-I grew them, in one of the deeprealms." She brightens again. "I'm glad you noticed, I just harvested them this morning! How do they taste? I-I think they c-came out really well."

" _You_ farmed them?" he asks, bewildered. "Since when do royals farm?"

"It's actually part of compulsory education in Hoshido," she says, smiling. "I just took to it, a-as a hobby, you know."

"Color me surprised." And impressed. And slightly enamored, but he shouldn't say that. "I was going to see if I could persuade you to part with a few."

She blinks. "Y-you mean, just... give them to you? Raw?"

"If you don't mind," he says.

"Y-you don't want to just have me make something with them?" she asks.

He raises an eyebrow. "What would you make, if I asked?"

"U-um." She taps her chin. "I-I could use them for a stew, or a salad... Oh! There's this one thing Elise taught me, called _risotto_ , where you simmer it into a sauce..."

"While I'm grateful," he says earnestly, "I'm afraid that would take time I can't spare at the moment. I'm to meet Xander and Ryoma in twenty for a meeting, and it's expected to run quite long."

"O-oh." She deflates a little, and he can't help but feel a little bad at that. She offers him a meek smile. "W-well, I can give you some after my shift, a-after everyone is finished eating, i-if that's okay. If you can't come by before closing, I-I'll leave them by your place in the barracks."

"Excellent," he says. "You have my gratitude."

"N-no problem. Oh! H-here." She grabs a towel from the counter, and leans over to mop up the juice still dripping down his gauntlet and onto the floor in sticky droplets.

He takes the towel, cheeks coloring. "Apologies. I suppose I have a bit of a one-track mind."

"It's okay," says a sly voice behind him. "She gets rice flour all over herself when she's excited about rice cakes." He cocks his head, and there's Takumi, watching the two of them with barely concealed amusement.

Sakura blushes bright. "T-Takumi!"

"Hey, _I'm_ the one who has to wipe your face afterwards. I'm allowed to tease you a _little_."

The princess just turns redder, muttering something about wiping her  _own_ face, and Leo, despite cracking a smile, decides it's time to take his leave. "Thank you for your assistance, Princess Sakura. I'll expect that delivery later."

"Quit extorting my sister for your weird eating habits-"

" _Takumi_ ," Sakura scolds, and Leo skirts his way out of the hall before either of them can say anything more.

  
***

  
The strategy meeting, as it turns out, stretches even longer than any of them had anticipated, and by the time Leo finally ducks out of the tent and into the moonlight it's quite clear that the mess hall has long been closed for the night, leaving him sour. Nothing quite lifts the spirits after a long day like a hot meal.

He trudges towards the barracks, moving past the lines of dividers to his own cubicle; he's exhausted so much so he's ready to kick off his boots and call it a night, hunger be damned. Vaguely, he recalls that he should expect what should be a small parcel of the promised produce waiting for him, and that should cheer him at the very least.

Instead, he finds several small boxes, each wrapped delicately in cloth tied into neat little knots, all perched at the edge of his bed with a small roll of parchment taped to the largest.

He unfurls it to find a short missive in Princess Sakura's neat, looped writing.

 

 

> _I don't know if Hoshidan cooking is to your taste, but I hope you enjoy it._

 

He unties each and unboxes the contents carefully, still warm. And he notices, quite prominently, the focus of each - tomatoes - flavoring fried rice and egg, seared with eggplants, sliced thin with onions and soy sauce, boiled into soup stock with vegetables and chicken.

He remembers Charlotte, not so long ago in the habit of passing out hand-made lunches to handsome recruits with clear intent, and he can feel the heat creeping up the back of his neck. But he also remembers how delighted Sakura was to have been asked to cook for him at _all_ , can only imagine how long she must have spent after her shift ended, out of sight and sound. Sakura, the princess with a penchant for healing and helping while asking for nary a thing in return.

He wonders, distantly, how hard it would be to learn to make rice cakes.

**Author's Note:**

> Charlotte: The way to a man's heart is through his stomach! ;)  
> Leo: Does it work in reverse. Also how do you farm rice
> 
> This was a silly idea that came to me verrrrry suddenly tonight and I just had to write it out before bed, haha. I love the idea of Sakura out in the gardens in a big ol' sun hat tending to the plants! 
> 
> Growing food/plants actually IS oftentimes a part of compulsory education in Japan, though what they grow/study varies from prefecture to prefecture. Almost all my students in my elementary schools grew tomatoes in their first year; other grades have grown sweet potatoes and sprouts and other leafy greens, largely so they gain an understanding/appreciation of where their food comes from. It's something I wish we did back in the U S of A.


End file.
